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Cleon Specials – SRD Redux Monsters and Related Creatures
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<blockquote data-quote="Cleon" data-source="post: 7961881" data-attributes="member: 57383"><p><strong><span style="font-size: 22px">Giant Octopus Redux</span></strong></p><p>Large Animal (Aquatic)</p><p><strong>Hit Dice:</strong> 8d8+16 (52 hp)</p><p><strong>Initiative:</strong> +2</p><p><strong>Speed:</strong> 10 ft. (2 squares), climb 10 ft., swim 30 ft.</p><p><strong>Armor Class:</strong> 15 (–1 size, +2 Dex, +4 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 13</p><p><strong>Base Attack/Grapple:</strong> +6/+15 [<em>+1 per tentacle</em>]</p><p><strong>Attack:</strong> Tentacle +10 melee (1d4+5)</p><p><strong>Full Attack:</strong> 2 primary tentacles +10 melee (1d4+5) and 6 tentacles +8 melee (1d4+2) and bite +8 melee (2d6+2)</p><p><strong>Space/Reach:</strong> 10 ft./5 ft. (20 ft. with tentacle)</p><p><strong>Special Attacks:</strong> All-around tentacles, constrict [<em>1d4+4 plus 1d4/extra tentacle</em>], expert grappler, gnawing beak [<em>grapple or +10 melee, 2d6+5</em>], improved grab</p><p><strong>Special Qualities:</strong> Chameleon, DR 5/slashing or piercing, ink cloud, jet, low-light vision, rubbery body</p><p><strong>Saves:</strong> Fort +8, Ref +8, Will +5</p><p><strong>Abilities:</strong> Str 20, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 3</p><p><strong>Skills:</strong> Climb +13, Escape Artist +12, Hide +12, Listen +4, Spot +7, Swim +13</p><p><strong>Feats:</strong> Combat Reflexes, Diehard, Iron Will, Multiattackᴮ</p><p><strong>Environment:</strong> Warm aquatic</p><p><strong>Organization:</strong> Solitary or coil (2–4)</p><p><strong>Challenge Rating:</strong> 7</p><p><strong>Treasure:</strong> 1/10 coins; 50% goods; 50% items</p><p><strong>Advancement:</strong> 9–12 HD (Large); 13–24 HD (Huge)</p><p><strong>Level Adjustment:</strong> —</p><p></p><p>The giant octopus inhabits tropical waters of middling or shallow depths, often near reefs, islands and continental coastlines. They leave the deep seas to their distant relatives the giant squids and kraken. These creatures are aggressive and territorial hunters, with eight arms reaching 20 feet or more in length. Their tentacles are studded with barbs and sharp-edged suckers, giving them a fearsome grip. Giant octopuses move about on dry land by slowly dragging themselves along with their tentacles. They cannot breathe air like a kraken, so must soon return to water or drown.</p><p></p><p>Giant octopuses lair in dens, usually an underwater cave or sunken ship – possibly one the octopus wrecked itself. The den might contain treasure among the remains of the octopus's victims.</p><p></p><p>While they live separately, these molluscs sometimes hunt cooperatively in small groups called coils, especially when attacking a tough target like a port or large ship. The only other time they seek the company of other giant octopuses is during mating season. Most unusually for cephalopods, giant octopuses do not mate once and die shortly afterwards but can reproduce year after year. Females lay their eggs on reefs and abandon them, they do not care for egg clutches in their dens like regular octopus mothers. Fortunately for people who live off or in the sea, very few giant octopus hatchlings survive to reach adulthood.</p><p></p><p>An average giant octopus has a 40 to 50 foot armspan and weighs between 1,000 and 2,000 pounds.</p><p></p><p><strong><span style="font-size: 18px">Combat</span></strong></p><p>A giant octopus can attack with all its tentacles simultaneously, dividing its attacks among as many opponents as it likes. A giant octopus can bring all eight tentacle attacks to bear against an opponent its own size or larger, it can attack a creature 1 size smaller than itself with up to 4 tentacles, a creature 2 sizes smaller with 2 tentacles, and smaller opponents with only one tentacle.</p><p></p><p>If a giant octopus already has a hold on an opponent in the water when it succeeds at a grapple check during a standard or full attack, it can automatically reduce the distance between it and its opponent by a distance of up to 20 feet, either by moving towards its opponent or pulling them closer with its limbs. The movement may affect the octopus, the opponent or both. If this movement pulls an opponent into the Reach of its bite attack the giant octopus is able to make attacks-of-opportunity with that natural weapon.</p><p></p><p>An opponent can attack a giant octopus’s tentacles with a sunder attempt as if they were weapons. A giant octopus’s tentacles have 10 hit points each. If a giant octopus is currently grappling a target with the tentacle that is being attacked, it usually uses another limb to make its attack of opportunity against the opponent making the sunder attempt. Severing one of a giant octopus’s tentacles deals 5 points of damage to the creature. A giant octopus usually withdraws from combat if it loses four tentacles. The creature regrows severed limbs in 1d10+10 days.</p><p></p><p><strong>All-Around Tentacles (Ex):</strong> A giant octopus can attack and defend in all directions without penalty and can not be flanked.</p><p></p><p><strong>Chameleon (Ex):</strong> A giant octopus can change its colour, combined with a limited ability to alter its body-shape and texture this gives it a +8 racial bonus on Hide checks. The octopus does not need cover or concealment to attempt a Hide check if it can match the colour of its surroundings.</p><p></p><p><strong>Constrict (Ex):</strong> Every round a giant octopus maintains a grapple it can automatically deal 1d4+5 points of constriction damage, the damage is increased by 1d4 for each additional tentacle the octopus constricts the opponent with. A giant octopus can simultaneously Constrict every opponent it is holding in a tentacle and can simultaneously use its Gnawing Beak on one grappled opponent it is close enough to bite. It can only use the Gnawing Beak’s “Gnaw through DR/hardness” full attack option if it constricts a single opponent.</p><p></p><p>A grappled opponent can use a standard action to attempt to resist the constriction. The opponent makes a grapple contest against the giant octopus. For every point they beat the octopus's grapple check they neutralize the constriction of one tentacle. If they beat the grapple check by a number greater than the number of tentacles the octopus is holding them with they break free of the grapple.</p><p></p><p><em>Example:</em> a giant octopus is holding an ogre shamanka with four of its tentacles, an average giant octopus constricting with 4 tentacles normally does 4d4+5 damage. The ogress tries to break the constriction. The octopus rolls 23 on its grapple check, the ogre a 25. Since the ogress rolled 2 higher, she breaks the hold of 2 tentacles and only takes 2d4+5 constriction damage. She'd have needed to roll 5 or more higher than the octopus's grapple check to break free.</p><p></p><p><strong>Expert Grappler (Ex):</strong> If a giant octopus chooses to grapple with its tentacles and remain ungrappled itself, it takes a –10 penalty on its grapple checks instead of the normal –20 penalty.</p><p></p><p><strong>Improved Grab (Ex):</strong> To use this ability, a giant octopus must hit an opponent of any size with a tentacle attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and can constrict.</p><p></p><p>If the octopus hits an opponent with multiple tentacles as part of a full attack it only rolls one grapple check to establish a hold, but it gets a bonus to the grapple check equal to the number of tentacles it hits with.</p><p></p><p><strong>Gnawing Beak (Ex):</strong> A giant octopus can bite an opponent it is grappling as a primary attack (bite +10 melee for 2d6+5 damage) or by succeeding at an opposed grapple check (for the same damage). If the giant octopus spends a full-round attack to make the opposed grapple check, its gnawing beak damage ignores damage reduction and hardness of up to 10.</p><p></p><p><strong>Ink Cloud (Ex):</strong> A giant octopus can emit a cloud of jet-black ink 40 feet high by 40 feet wide by 40 feet long once per minute as a free action. The cloud provides total concealment, which the octopus normally uses to escape a losing fight. All vision within the cloud is obscured.</p><p></p><p><strong>Jet (Ex):</strong> A giant octopus can jet backward once per round as a full-round action, at a speed of 200 feet. It must move in a straight line, but does not provoke attacks of opportunity while jetting.</p><p></p><p><strong>Rubbery Body (Ex):</strong> A giant octopus's boneless and elastic body gives it damage resistance 5 against bludgeoning damage, which includes most crushing and constriction attacks, and also allows it to squeeze through narrow confines as it if were two size category smaller than it actually is.</p><p></p><p><strong>Skills:</strong> A giant octopus chameleon ability gives it a +8 racial bonus on Hide checks and its rubbery body gives it a +10 racial bonus on Escape Artist checks. Its keen eyesight gives it a +4 racial bonus to Spot.</p><p></p><p>A giant octopus has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. It can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line. A giant octopus also has a +8 racial bonus on Climb checks, and can always choose to take 10 on Climb checks, even if rushed or threatened.</p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 18px"><strong>Advanced Giant Octopuses</strong></span></p><p>A Huge giant octopus has a 30 foot Reach with its tentacles. Each of a Huge giant octopus's tentacles has 20 hit points and severing a tentacle deals 10 points of damage to the creature.</p><p></p><p>A Huge giant octopus can emit an ink cloud 60 feet high by 60 feet wide by 60 feet long.</p><p></p><p><span style="color: green"><span style="font-size: 18px"><strong>Design Notes</strong></span></span></p><p><span style="color: green">The SRD Giant Octopus bears no resemblance to any known cephalopod, living or extinct. It represents the gigantic octopodes of folklore or cryptozoology (sometimes dubbed <em>Octopus giganteus</em>) and is probably an entirely fictitious creature like a kraken. I’d argue both it and the SRD Giant Squid should have been indexed as normal monsters rather than appear in the Animal appendix.</span></p><p><span style="color: green"></span></p><p><span style="color: green">Mechanically, most of the differences from the SRD versions are additional special abilities, plus a one-degree improvement to its Constitution and a better selection of feats.</span></p><p><span style="color: green"></span></p><p><span style="color: green">The most notable reduction in power was changing its natural attacks from eight primary attacks with tentacles to become two primary arms plus six secondary arms. This was mostly done so it didn’t potentially have eight times its Strength bonus with its arms’ damage during a full attack like the original’s tentacles but five times its Strength bonus instead. It also helped keep it balanced with my Giant Squid Redux which I gave primary tentacle attacks and secondary arm attacks.</span></p><p><span style="color: green"></span></p><p><span style="color: green">In addition, its natural armour bonus was lowered to +4 since it seemed inappropriate for a soft-fleshed creature like an octopus to have a NA bonus equal to full plate’s +7 armour bonus. The added damage reduction against bludgeoning attacks should partially compensate for that.</span></p><p><span style="color: green"></span></p><p><span style="color: green">Even with all these enhancements I reduced its Challenge Rating to 7 based on comparisons to the SRD’s Dire Bear and Black Pudding, which are both CR 7 but have somewhat higher hit points and somewhat lower average damage output while being similar in resilience. The Eight-Headed Hydra has higher hit points & damage output AND ridiculously rapid Fast Healing too boot while only being CR 7, but I think that particular SRD monster is under-CRd.</span></p><p><span style="color: green"></span></p><p><span style="color: green">Still, I’m seriously tempted to return the Giant Octopus to its original Challenge Rating 8 if only because “8” seems so appropriate for an octopus! Maybe if I tweaked the numbers up to make it a bit nastier I’d feel comfortable doing that…</span></p><p><span style="color: green"></span></p><p><span style="color: green">One of those changes (which I am seriously tempted to do regardless) is giving the Giant Octopus the Dire trait. The majority of 3E Dire Animals were Giant Animals in AD&D, so a "Dire Octopus" seemed a reasonable improvement.</span></p><p><span style="color: green"></span></p><p><span style="color: green">If I did add the Dire trait I would have applied the following changes to the Giant Octopus Redux above:</span></p><p></p><p><span style="color: blue"><strong>Saves:</strong> Fort +8, Ref +8, Will +7</span></p><p><span style="color: blue"><strong>Feats:</strong> Combat Reflexes, Diehard, Iron Will, Multiattack</span></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Cleon, post: 7961881, member: 57383"] [B][SIZE=6]Giant Octopus Redux[/SIZE][/B] Large Animal (Aquatic) [B]Hit Dice:[/B] 8d8+16 (52 hp) [B]Initiative:[/B] +2 [B]Speed:[/B] 10 ft. (2 squares), climb 10 ft., swim 30 ft. [B]Armor Class:[/B] 15 (–1 size, +2 Dex, +4 natural), touch 11, flat-footed 13 [B]Base Attack/Grapple:[/B] +6/+15 [[I]+1 per tentacle[/I]] [B]Attack:[/B] Tentacle +10 melee (1d4+5) [B]Full Attack:[/B] 2 primary tentacles +10 melee (1d4+5) and 6 tentacles +8 melee (1d4+2) and bite +8 melee (2d6+2) [B]Space/Reach:[/B] 10 ft./5 ft. (20 ft. with tentacle) [B]Special Attacks:[/B] All-around tentacles, constrict [[I]1d4+4 plus 1d4/extra tentacle[/I]], expert grappler, gnawing beak [[I]grapple or +10 melee, 2d6+5[/I]], improved grab [B]Special Qualities:[/B] Chameleon, DR 5/slashing or piercing, ink cloud, jet, low-light vision, rubbery body [B]Saves:[/B] Fort +8, Ref +8, Will +5 [B]Abilities:[/B] Str 20, Dex 15, Con 15, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 3 [B]Skills:[/B] Climb +13, Escape Artist +12, Hide +12, Listen +4, Spot +7, Swim +13 [B]Feats:[/B] Combat Reflexes, Diehard, Iron Will, Multiattackᴮ [B]Environment:[/B] Warm aquatic [B]Organization:[/B] Solitary or coil (2–4) [B]Challenge Rating:[/B] 7 [B]Treasure:[/B] 1/10 coins; 50% goods; 50% items [B]Advancement:[/B] 9–12 HD (Large); 13–24 HD (Huge) [B]Level Adjustment:[/B] — The giant octopus inhabits tropical waters of middling or shallow depths, often near reefs, islands and continental coastlines. They leave the deep seas to their distant relatives the giant squids and kraken. These creatures are aggressive and territorial hunters, with eight arms reaching 20 feet or more in length. Their tentacles are studded with barbs and sharp-edged suckers, giving them a fearsome grip. Giant octopuses move about on dry land by slowly dragging themselves along with their tentacles. They cannot breathe air like a kraken, so must soon return to water or drown. Giant octopuses lair in dens, usually an underwater cave or sunken ship – possibly one the octopus wrecked itself. The den might contain treasure among the remains of the octopus's victims. While they live separately, these molluscs sometimes hunt cooperatively in small groups called coils, especially when attacking a tough target like a port or large ship. The only other time they seek the company of other giant octopuses is during mating season. Most unusually for cephalopods, giant octopuses do not mate once and die shortly afterwards but can reproduce year after year. Females lay their eggs on reefs and abandon them, they do not care for egg clutches in their dens like regular octopus mothers. Fortunately for people who live off or in the sea, very few giant octopus hatchlings survive to reach adulthood. An average giant octopus has a 40 to 50 foot armspan and weighs between 1,000 and 2,000 pounds. [B][SIZE=5]Combat[/SIZE][/B] A giant octopus can attack with all its tentacles simultaneously, dividing its attacks among as many opponents as it likes. A giant octopus can bring all eight tentacle attacks to bear against an opponent its own size or larger, it can attack a creature 1 size smaller than itself with up to 4 tentacles, a creature 2 sizes smaller with 2 tentacles, and smaller opponents with only one tentacle. If a giant octopus already has a hold on an opponent in the water when it succeeds at a grapple check during a standard or full attack, it can automatically reduce the distance between it and its opponent by a distance of up to 20 feet, either by moving towards its opponent or pulling them closer with its limbs. The movement may affect the octopus, the opponent or both. If this movement pulls an opponent into the Reach of its bite attack the giant octopus is able to make attacks-of-opportunity with that natural weapon. An opponent can attack a giant octopus’s tentacles with a sunder attempt as if they were weapons. A giant octopus’s tentacles have 10 hit points each. If a giant octopus is currently grappling a target with the tentacle that is being attacked, it usually uses another limb to make its attack of opportunity against the opponent making the sunder attempt. Severing one of a giant octopus’s tentacles deals 5 points of damage to the creature. A giant octopus usually withdraws from combat if it loses four tentacles. The creature regrows severed limbs in 1d10+10 days. [B]All-Around Tentacles (Ex):[/B] A giant octopus can attack and defend in all directions without penalty and can not be flanked. [B]Chameleon (Ex):[/B] A giant octopus can change its colour, combined with a limited ability to alter its body-shape and texture this gives it a +8 racial bonus on Hide checks. The octopus does not need cover or concealment to attempt a Hide check if it can match the colour of its surroundings. [B]Constrict (Ex):[/B] Every round a giant octopus maintains a grapple it can automatically deal 1d4+5 points of constriction damage, the damage is increased by 1d4 for each additional tentacle the octopus constricts the opponent with. A giant octopus can simultaneously Constrict every opponent it is holding in a tentacle and can simultaneously use its Gnawing Beak on one grappled opponent it is close enough to bite. It can only use the Gnawing Beak’s “Gnaw through DR/hardness” full attack option if it constricts a single opponent. A grappled opponent can use a standard action to attempt to resist the constriction. The opponent makes a grapple contest against the giant octopus. For every point they beat the octopus's grapple check they neutralize the constriction of one tentacle. If they beat the grapple check by a number greater than the number of tentacles the octopus is holding them with they break free of the grapple. [I]Example:[/I] a giant octopus is holding an ogre shamanka with four of its tentacles, an average giant octopus constricting with 4 tentacles normally does 4d4+5 damage. The ogress tries to break the constriction. The octopus rolls 23 on its grapple check, the ogre a 25. Since the ogress rolled 2 higher, she breaks the hold of 2 tentacles and only takes 2d4+5 constriction damage. She'd have needed to roll 5 or more higher than the octopus's grapple check to break free. [B]Expert Grappler (Ex):[/B] If a giant octopus chooses to grapple with its tentacles and remain ungrappled itself, it takes a –10 penalty on its grapple checks instead of the normal –20 penalty. [B]Improved Grab (Ex):[/B] To use this ability, a giant octopus must hit an opponent of any size with a tentacle attack. It can then attempt to start a grapple as a free action without provoking an attack of opportunity. If it wins the grapple check, it establishes a hold and can constrict. If the octopus hits an opponent with multiple tentacles as part of a full attack it only rolls one grapple check to establish a hold, but it gets a bonus to the grapple check equal to the number of tentacles it hits with. [B]Gnawing Beak (Ex):[/B] A giant octopus can bite an opponent it is grappling as a primary attack (bite +10 melee for 2d6+5 damage) or by succeeding at an opposed grapple check (for the same damage). If the giant octopus spends a full-round attack to make the opposed grapple check, its gnawing beak damage ignores damage reduction and hardness of up to 10. [B]Ink Cloud (Ex):[/B] A giant octopus can emit a cloud of jet-black ink 40 feet high by 40 feet wide by 40 feet long once per minute as a free action. The cloud provides total concealment, which the octopus normally uses to escape a losing fight. All vision within the cloud is obscured. [B]Jet (Ex):[/B] A giant octopus can jet backward once per round as a full-round action, at a speed of 200 feet. It must move in a straight line, but does not provoke attacks of opportunity while jetting. [B]Rubbery Body (Ex):[/B] A giant octopus's boneless and elastic body gives it damage resistance 5 against bludgeoning damage, which includes most crushing and constriction attacks, and also allows it to squeeze through narrow confines as it if were two size category smaller than it actually is. [B]Skills:[/B] A giant octopus chameleon ability gives it a +8 racial bonus on Hide checks and its rubbery body gives it a +10 racial bonus on Escape Artist checks. Its keen eyesight gives it a +4 racial bonus to Spot. A giant octopus has a +8 racial bonus on any Swim check to perform some special action or avoid a hazard. It can always choose to take 10 on a Swim check, even if distracted or endangered. It can use the run action while swimming, provided it swims in a straight line. A giant octopus also has a +8 racial bonus on Climb checks, and can always choose to take 10 on Climb checks, even if rushed or threatened. [SIZE=5][B]Advanced Giant Octopuses[/B][/SIZE] A Huge giant octopus has a 30 foot Reach with its tentacles. Each of a Huge giant octopus's tentacles has 20 hit points and severing a tentacle deals 10 points of damage to the creature. A Huge giant octopus can emit an ink cloud 60 feet high by 60 feet wide by 60 feet long. [COLOR=green][SIZE=5][B]Design Notes[/B][/SIZE] The SRD Giant Octopus bears no resemblance to any known cephalopod, living or extinct. It represents the gigantic octopodes of folklore or cryptozoology (sometimes dubbed [I]Octopus giganteus[/I]) and is probably an entirely fictitious creature like a kraken. I’d argue both it and the SRD Giant Squid should have been indexed as normal monsters rather than appear in the Animal appendix. Mechanically, most of the differences from the SRD versions are additional special abilities, plus a one-degree improvement to its Constitution and a better selection of feats. The most notable reduction in power was changing its natural attacks from eight primary attacks with tentacles to become two primary arms plus six secondary arms. This was mostly done so it didn’t potentially have eight times its Strength bonus with its arms’ damage during a full attack like the original’s tentacles but five times its Strength bonus instead. It also helped keep it balanced with my Giant Squid Redux which I gave primary tentacle attacks and secondary arm attacks. In addition, its natural armour bonus was lowered to +4 since it seemed inappropriate for a soft-fleshed creature like an octopus to have a NA bonus equal to full plate’s +7 armour bonus. The added damage reduction against bludgeoning attacks should partially compensate for that. Even with all these enhancements I reduced its Challenge Rating to 7 based on comparisons to the SRD’s Dire Bear and Black Pudding, which are both CR 7 but have somewhat higher hit points and somewhat lower average damage output while being similar in resilience. The Eight-Headed Hydra has higher hit points & damage output AND ridiculously rapid Fast Healing too boot while only being CR 7, but I think that particular SRD monster is under-CRd. Still, I’m seriously tempted to return the Giant Octopus to its original Challenge Rating 8 if only because “8” seems so appropriate for an octopus! Maybe if I tweaked the numbers up to make it a bit nastier I’d feel comfortable doing that… One of those changes (which I am seriously tempted to do regardless) is giving the Giant Octopus the Dire trait. The majority of 3E Dire Animals were Giant Animals in AD&D, so a "Dire Octopus" seemed a reasonable improvement. If I did add the Dire trait I would have applied the following changes to the Giant Octopus Redux above:[/COLOR] [COLOR=blue][B]Saves:[/B] Fort +8, Ref +8, Will +7 [B]Feats:[/B] Combat Reflexes, Diehard, Iron Will, Multiattack[/COLOR] [/QUOTE]
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